Madrid one more time 5

Despite being one of the food and drink capitals of Europe, Madrid can be a frustrating experience when you're starving at 7pm and nothing is open yet for dinner. And although the locals prefer a series of light bites for their evening meals, sometimes nothing will do other than a plate of greasy chips and a pint of fizzy lager.

That's when there's no place like Home, a gourmet diner in Madrid that serves organic burgers. Unfortunately, the shutters were down when we showed up at 7 in the evening after our daytrip to Segovia. This gave us time to head back to the hotel, freshen up and look up the Spanish phrase for 'well done' (bien cocido!).

Because they had not been opened long when we arrived it was easy to grab a booth, but apparently most evenings they do fill up and reservations come in handy. The vinyl blinds, curved ceilings and retro lamps convinced us we were sat in a real diner, complete with a perfect selection of 1950s & 60s tunes in the background (visit their website for a sample of their jukebox).

The kookiness continued when we were handed the menus, which are printed onto paper grocery bags.

We decided to start with a platter of onion rings. These were quite pricey at €9.50, but turned out to be plump and crunchy, with an authentic spicy BBQ sauce on the side. Without a doubt the best I've ever had outside the USA.

Our burgers came with an abundance of leafy salad (in fact, there were so many exotic varieties they were a bit intrusive once piled atop the burgers) as well as a side of fries which were on the small side and rather greasy (although they do recycle their grease from the kitchen and turn it into bio-fuel). The beer came in Budweiser glasses (and may even have been Bud, it wasn't clear though from menu).

Overall though it was worth the trip and we had a fun night out.